


The Future, After Hellbent

by AmicaNiiya



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: After Hellbent, Gen, mystery skulls - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 03:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16610969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmicaNiiya/pseuds/AmicaNiiya
Summary: Basically, my idea what might happen after that DAMN cliffhanger in Hellbent.It's still WiP, only lightly edited and English isn't my first language, so there's bound to be some mistakes... Please point them out to me! Thanks





	1. Regret and Reunion

_You took everything from me. My life, my family - My love. I called you my friend - but you betrayed me. You deserve this._

In the back of his mind, something stirred. A quiet whisper, a feeling that something wasn’t right. It told him him to stop, but he pushed it aside. He didn’t have the time. He finally had him, hanging by his collar. It was now or never. With that, he let go.

“Lewis?”

He froze. It was hard to hear, little more than a whisper. A single name, filled with shock and confusion. Why was Arthur so-

In a single moment, he realized what it meant. What that nagging feeling had been. What he had done. His anger melted away; Instead, regret and despair came and filled the void. He just killed his best friend.

His hatred had driven him, beyond his death even, but it had blinded him at the same time, kept him from seeing the truth. It had been oh so obvious, but he had chosen to ignore it.

Now, he had nothing left. Lewis fell onto his knees, feeling empty, lost.

Before he knew it, the cave had faded away, making the trailer visible again. It was cold. Why was it so cold?

Then, he heard something at the far end of the trailer. Someone was… groaning?

Lewis snapped out of his stupor and stumbled towards the sound. Dimly lit by his hair, he found Arthur - His left arm in pieces and a cut on his side, but **alive**.

Lewis had to act quickly. The wound was not deep, fortunately. While trying to stop the bleeding, he had to think of Belle. That little rascal would always injure herself when playing and he had to patch her up. He hadn’t thought about his family at all. That’s wasn’t like him at all. Maybe it was part of being a vengeful ghost, he thought, but it worried him. What else had he missed in his rage?

Suddenly, a single arm was slung around him. Lewis was startled; Arthur, who he had tried to kill mere minutes ago, was actually hugging him?

Then he remembered what he was doing, “A-Arthur, careful, the wound will reopen!”

“I don’t give a shit about that right now!”, he exclaimed, even though he slightly flinched from the pain, “Lewis, it’s really you. I’m so happy! Do you have any idea how worried I was when you disappeared?”

Lewis paused, “Wait, you were… worried about me? You don’t know what happened?”

The confused look on Arthur’s face told him the answer to that.

“Arthur, I didn’t disappear. You…”, he said, his voice slow, concerned. How could he have forgotten? Part of him, maybe his nature as a vengeful ghost, still yearned for revenge, but he tried to keep it down. Something wasn’t adding up. He won’t kill his best friend over a stupid misunderstanding.

“Tell me what exactly you remember of that day.”

Arthur didn’t seem to understand why, but he told his side of the story; They had gone to that haunted cave because several people had gone missing around it. Vivi had insisted on investigating up close, so they had entered it. After that, there was… a gap of about a day and Arthur had found himself miles away from that cave, a bleeding stump instead of his left arm, Vivi blankly staring into space and Lewis nowhere to be seen. He vaguely remembered something had been wrong with his arm and Mystery having something to do with it missing, but Arthur said that might as well have been a nightmare from how absurd it was. Vivi still seems to only remember him when Lewis is explicitly mentioned.

“But what’s your deal? How come you’re a ghost now?”, he said after he finished, “And what’s with the suit?”

Lewis was even more confused now. What the hell is going on?

A shot. Somebody just fired a gun outside.

“The others!” Arthur tried to stand up, but fell back again, his wound bleeding through his shirt.

Lewis tried to hold him down, “You’re not in the condition to move now. Stay here, I’ll see what’s happening.”


	2. A Real Yokai

“You can’t run forever, mutt!”, Shiromori hissed, liking her lips.

Mystery was shivering like a leave. He had dreaded it ever since he found that petal; She was here, she had come for him. And as things were now, bound by the contract and missing two of his tails, he highly doubted he could overpower her. Maybe if he were to reveal his true form, but… No, he can’t do that.

Just as Shiromori went in for the kill, a bat hit her, making her head spin.

It was Vivi, and she was ecstatic. Yeah, she was about to be killed by a crazy tree lady, but it’s a **real** yokai! Like, an actual mythical creature, right in front of her! How could she **not** be thrilled?

In her excitement, she caught neither the recognition nor shock in Shiromori’s face. The tree yokai turned to Mystery, looking for an explanation, but he just shrugged, unable offer to answer. She turned red, either out of anger or something else, and summoned a gigantic pair of scissors in her rage.

This time, Vivi was barely able to block it, but was soon pushed to the ground. The yokai raised her weapon, about to strike. In his panic, Mystery took on his kitsune form and readied himself to protect his friend and owner.

Bang! A hole appeared in the wall right behind them, sending small shards flying. Everyone froze.

Lance waved his shotgun between Shiromori and the now transformed Mystery, “The fuck are you and what are you doing to Artie’s friend?”, he shouted.

A pillar of purple flames erupted behind the yokai and Lewis appeared from it.

“I would like to know that as well…” A vein throbbed on his forehead.

“Oh, it’s you! So that little lady is your lover, huh?”

Silence. As she processed what Shiromori had just said, blood rushed into Vivi’s face and she began stammering in embarrassment. Lewis just stood there, confused. Shiromori had spoken in her native language, Japanese, so he didn’t get any of that.

“She asked if Vivi is your, well, your _lover_ , Lewis”, Mystery translated and pulled the blushing girl closer with his tails, away from both Shiromori and Lewis.

Lewis turned to him, who was still in his true form.

“I- I’m not even gonna ask”, he sighed.

Mystery nodded his head slowly, “Likewise. But we got a lot to talk about later.”

Lewis agreed. He knew Mystery was still wary of him; They had been friends, a long time ago, but he had tried to kill his best friend, so it was fair for Mystery to be suspicious.

_Wait, didn’t Artie mention something about Mystery ripping of his arm? He had said it might have been a nightmare, but…_

“Seems like that part was accurate”, he murmured.

Feeling left out and ignored, Shiromiro finally snapped.

“Enough! Mutt, I’m here for you, don’t bother me with your trivial business!”, she shouted, pointing her huge weapon at the kitsune. He reacted immediately, going into a defensive stands to protect Vivi.

“You may be centuries old, Shiromori”, he sneered, “but you still act like a little child.”

That was it. She completely lost her composure. In her rage, she let out a deep roar and charged towards Mystery. But again, someone stepped in.

She struggled to breath. Lewis had grabbed her neck, slowly applying pressure. Her feet helplessly kicked the air.

“You’re seriously getting on my nerves”, he muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes glowing with barely contained wrath, “I won’t let you lay a single finger on them, do you understand?”

The sheer killing intend in that last command did the talking. She immediately knew were she up against him, she wouldn’t survive for long. She nodded vigorously and lifted her hands in defeat.

Lewis hesitantly let go of her, freeing her from the suffocating pressure. She cowered on the ground, her body shaking as she finally got fresh air again. Then, she glared at Mystery again.

Her voice still hoarse, she told him, “You win this round…”

With that, she burrowed into the ground and disappeared. After a few seconds of silence as they watched her leave, Lance spoke up, “The hell was that just now…”

* * *

#### Bonus: In The Truck

Without the glow of Lewis’ hair, Arthur was left in the dark, alone.

If he remembered correctly, they should be right in front of Kingsmen Mechanics, his uncle’s shop, that gunshot was likely fired by him then. Despite everything, uncle Lance insisted on keeping his two shotguns.

_I hope Galaham is okay._

He looked at his shattered prosthethic. It had taken him ages to get it to function like an actual arm and all that was destroyed in seconds. At least he was alive, but still…  It was kinda frustrating to see his work like this.

Time went by. Not even two minutes later, he couldn’t sit still any longer. He started to fidget with the cables of his broken off arm. Lewis had told him to wait, but he couldn’t stay put any longer. It was just so **boring**! So he stood up, using the trailer wall as support. His wound let out a small drip of blood, but he ignored the pain and got off the truck.


	3. Sorry

What presented itself to Arthur was… strange, at the very least: As he stepped outside, he witnessed a huge multi tailed monster of a fox turning into Mystery. Vivi was lying on the ground, cuts all over her body, looking both as if she had one foot in the grave and the best time of her life. Lewis was just standing there, unsure what to say to them. And Arthur’s uncle had obviously given up on trying to understand what was going on a long time ago.

“The hell did I miss, guys”, he said, trying to hide his exhaustion with a somewhat high spirited tone.

Everybody turned their head. Lewis came towards him, worry showing in his ghostly eyes.

“Arthur, what are you  **doing** ? I told you to stay back!” His expression grew even more concerned when he saw the crimson spot forming on Arthur’s shirt.

“Yeah, I know, I know… Just couldn’t wait any longer”, his words slurred from the blood loss, “Can’t deal with boredom, you should know that.” He tried to force a grin and leaned onto Lewis’ chest for support.

Lewis was surprised how relaxed Arthur was with him, despite everything that had happened. Then he focused on the situation at hand again. Carefully, he helped him get of the truck. 

A sigh behind them. “I’ve got no clue what you kids got yourself into, but let’s go inside. You look like you need to talk”, Lance told them, lowering his shotgun, “And you could use some patching up…”

They tidied up the one table inside the shop for them to sit down, then Lance took out his trusty first-aid kit and started to clean up the small cuts and bruises they, well, mostly Vivi and Arthur, had. Nobody said anything except for small hisses of pain.

Now back together again, it was kinda awkward. Lewis had no idea what to say. While he had wished to make up with them the whole time, he never imagined it would actually come true. Trying to kill someone isn’t exactly something one can just overlook. Mystery still kept his guard up towards him. 

“So…”, Arthur tried to break the silence, “Did anyone already know that Mystery is a demon fox?”

He had known that Mystery wasn’t your typical everyday dog, but he’d have never guessed him to be a literal supernatural creature from ancient Japan. He didn’t catch everything, but Mystery seemed to have quite the history as well…

Mystery cleared his throat, “I apologize for hiding my identity as a kitsune, including my ability to speak”, he said, “There is a reason.”

Vivi raised her eyebrow, “And that reason being…?” She didn’t say it, but she felt a bit betrayed by him. Technically, she  **was** his owner and he had been with her as long as she can remember. Not knowing the truth left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“It would take ages were I to go into much detail”, he explained, “but long story short, I’m bound to your bloodline, Vivi, and only allowed to access my powers as a kitsune in certain circumstances. About the tree yokai, Shiromori…”

He was interrupted by Vivi yawning. Soon, the others followed.

Lance, satisfied with the treatment of their injuries, packed the kit away again. “How about we take a break here”, he told them, “Continue this after you’ve taken a good nap.”

Vivi yawned again. “Good idea, I need… I need some sleep”, she mumbled as she scuffled towards the quest room. Besides her fatigue, there were hints of confusion in her eyes. Seeing that, Arthur realized she probably still had problems with her memory. Understandably, he himself barely remembered anything regarding the cave and… Lewis’ death. It should be even worse for her, not remembering him at all, save for a feeling of recognition maybe.

Just as Lewis rose from his chair, Arthur tapped on his shoulder. He avoided his eyes, “Hey, Lewis, could we- could we talk for a moment?” Then, he added insistently, “Alone.”

Lewis was caught by surprise. How should he react? He didn’t know what Arthur wanted with him alone after… what had happened, but his way of acting told Lewis it was important to him. Hesitantly, he agreed.

The moon was still high, disappearing from time to time behind dark clouds. He could still see the signs of the confrontation between that tree lady, whatever that had been, who had attacked Vivi, Mystery and him; Vivi’s metal bat was lying around, bent out of shape beyond recognition. The ground was charred here and there, there were even some small flames still burning, and a gaping hole in the earth where she had disappeared. Didn’t Mystery say her name was Shiromori?

Arthur lead him behind the shop, where scrap metals were scattered over the ground. Surrounded by old abandoned cars, he faced him.

“Lewis, I really don’t have much recollection of, y’know…”, he took a deep, shaky breath, “More now, but only little bits and pieces. I know you’re angry. Angry at me. From what I remember, you have every right to be. I just wanted to tell you that I’m…”, he paused, having to bring himself to say it, “I’m sorry. I wanted you to know that.” He fell silent. Now that he’d said it, he was torn between staying and leaving. Part of him awaited the reaction, part dreaded it.

It took Lewis a few minutes to process what he had just been told. “You’re… sorry”, his low voice having a slightly questioning tone. He paused, then started shaking. “Is that supposed to be a fucking  **joke** ?!”, he said, getting louder and louder. Eventually thundering, it threatened to burst his eardrums, “I’m  **dead** , Arthur! You took everything from me! You can’t undo that, no matter how damn sorry you are!” His voice was booming and sparks were sent flying as his outrage grew.

“Do you really think it would make a difference that you didn’t know… that you didn’t… you…”, the anger in his words vanished. Suddenly, like a puppet having its strings cut off, he fell back onto the wall, covering his face in shame.

“I’m stupid”, he blurted out, “Of course you didn’t do it! How could I ever believe you did? I should have known better. You were my best friend, Arthur! Instead, I let myself be driven by my hatred”, he shook his head in disbelief, “I tried to kill you. End you the same way I did.” Midway, he started sobbing, streams of tears flowed down his face, “I’m a horrible friend. I readily threw my trust in you away when the opportunity came.  **I’m** the one that should be apologizing to you…”

Lewis’ confession stunned him. Lewis had hardly gotten this emotional in the past. Arthur wanted to reply, but before he could, Lewis continued.

“Maybe- maybe I was afraid of passing on. I didn’t want you, all of you, to go through this twice. The rage held me here, so… No. I’m just making up excuses now. I am an idiot, period.”

Arthur couldn’t bear to see his friend like this. He kneeled down next to him, holding onto him as best as he could, lacking one arm.

“Look, Lewis…”, he began, “I still think of you as my best friend. We’ll clear this whole thing up in the morning. No more self-hate, ok?”

Whipping away the tears, Lewis slowly nodded.

Arthur chuckled, “And here I thought anxiety was my thing, big guy.” He helped him get up, then, he asked, “Why did you even think I would ever want to kill you in the first place, Lewis?”

Faced with that question, the ghost became flustered, “Well, you looked so… unhappy with Vivi and me going out…”, Lewis sheepishly explained “so I thought… you did it out of.. out of jealousy?”

Arthur’s face went blank; He hadn’t seen that coming. “You thought  **I** was…”, he waved his still detached metal arm around, emphasizing what he was saying, “Hold on. Let me get this clear: Not once in my lifetime did I wish for you two to break up. I mean, that “unhappiness” you speak of…”, getting embarrassed as he remembered, he shrunk back again, “That wasn’t jealousy. More like fifty percent feeling left out and fifty percent self-loathing. I was happy for you, honestly. It’s just… You seemed to be perfectly okay  **without** me. Then my lack of confidence kicked in and, well…”

Now it was Arthur who found himself in an embrace. Or rather, as Lewis was more than a feet taller, Arthur’s whole body was being enveloped by his huge arms. Caught off guard, he stiffened up and let out a gasp.

“Please don’t say that”, Lewis whispered. “I told you already, didn’t I?” He tightened his hug slightly, so he could still barely breath.

Arthur chuckled, “Bear hug it is, then…”, and returned it. So much was going on with Lewis’ death, Mystery’s past and everything, but for now, they were simply happy to be back together again, like before. All that other stuff could come later…


	4. Doubt and Warmth

Lance always had some beds free - They often stopped by inbetween investigations for fuel and rest - and even though they were already worn out and old, Vivi was once again thankful to him for it. In that moment, an actual bed and a soft blanket seemed like heaven on earth. She felt horrible; Her whole body was screaming in pain.

She yawned, again. With a muffled thud, Vivi fell onto the bed. She didn’t even bother to change her clothes wrapped herself up, slowly closing her eyes. It had been an eventful night…  She _really_ needed some good, deep sleep.

Vivi couldn’t sleep. She tried, rolling around restlessly, making the old bed creak and bend beneath her, but no success. Her eyes couldn’t even stay open anymore, but there was just no rest for her; This awful headache didn’t let her get any. It was as if a swarm of bees stuck in her head, buzzing around in there. She made some fruitless attempts of finding a position she could finally fall asleep in, but eventually gave up on it and resigned herself to staring up at the ceiling.  
Maybe I should ask Lance for some pain killers?, she thought lying there.

Something fluffy settled right next to her head - Mystery had curled up on what was supposed to be her pillow. She chuckled. He always snatched it away from her. Then her smile faded. Seeing him sprawled out like that, he looked just like every other pet. He had been with her as long as she could remember. She knew he had not wanted to deceive them, but still…  
He has probably been alive for god knows how long… Why was did he even bother to be with them? Did her family know?

She couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was driving her crazy; So much was going on all at once…    
First, Mystery being a kitsune. Seeing real supernatural creatures had been her dream ever since she had been young; **Real** ghosts, **real** monsters, **real** yokai! She always wanted to know how close their description were to the actual thing, she wanted to study them, interact with them. Finally being having the chance to do exactly that, _of course_ she was excited! But, discovering that your own dog was one and you never knew? That was… another story.  
And of course, there was that ghost. His appearance had changed a bit from back then, but if she remembered correctly, it was the same one that had chased Arthur in that haunted mansion…  
She didn’t know, or at least she couldn’t _remember_ , what had happened between them. Before, that ghost was dead set on **killing** Arthur; He had even pursued them through half the state! Now, they were… friends? Again? Whatever happened in that truck apparently made them make up with each other.  
Right, the others seemed to know that ghost somehow. Ever since that one day Arthur lost his arm, she had problems with her memory. Was he an old friend, maybe? She pictured his face, trying to figure out who he might be. He **did** seem familiar, but… What did the others say his name was? _Lewis…_

**Throb**

She flinched. Just thinking of him sent a flash of pain through her head. Curling up from the stinging headache, she tried to dig deeper, making her head pound even harder than before. She _knew_ him. However, any memory of him escaped her. It was infuriating! Something told her he had been a major part in their life, just...  
Her face flushed red. She quickly buried her face into the blanket, even though there was only a sleeping Mystery with her, his ears twitching in response to her moving. What that yokai, Shiromori, had said… She probably just tried to tease Lewis. But, maybe, had she really been his…?

She couldn’t finish her thought before she heard yelling from outside.  
“Is that supposed to be a fucking **joke** ?! I’m **dead** , Arthur!”  
Even through the small gap of the tilted window, she had to cover her ears. It had sounded closer to an explosion than an actual voice, making her ears ring. How could anyone be this _loud_?

Suddenly, she shot up in bed, wide awake. _Arthur!_  
Next to her, Mystery also slowly lifted his head, the ears searching for the source of the disturbance. He looked at Vivi and tilted his head with a questioning expression of his face. He didn’t need to speak, even though he could, she knew what he meant.

“Yeah, let’s go”, she told him. He nodded and, still drowsy, he jumped off the mattress, shaking himself awake. He turned to her, waiting for her to lead the way. Vivi was about to go, but then, she hesitated.  
Was it really okay? He did hide the truth all this time and…

She clapped her hand onto her face, startling Mystery and making him jump. _This was_ **_not_ ** _the time for that!_

With newfound resolve, she rushed outside as blood shot into her now tingling cheeks, Mystery following right behind her.

 _Warm_. That was the first thing Arthur noticed; Lewis was really warm. Not as if he was feverish - could ghosts even get ill? - it was… pleasant and somewhat nostalgic, like a soft blanket. It was a strange experience… But he had to say, quite nice.

“I missed you **so** much, big guy”, he whispered, mostly to himself. Snuggling deeper into the embrace, he listened to the slow, steady heart beat. (He chose to ignore the fact that technically, with Lewis being a ghost, there shouldn’t he a pulse present. Too cozy.)

That moment didn’t last too long though. Steps were approaching, from the sound of it clearly in a hurry.  
“Arthur!”, Vivi yelled as she ran towards them, “Are you- ?”. She stopped in her tracks when she realized what was happening. It was… different from what she’d expected and consequently confused her quite a lot.  

Arthur lifted his head, some tears still escaping his eyes. To Vivi’s relief, he seemed otherwise fine. Waiting for an explanation, she tapped her foot impatiently, also throwing one or two glances at Lewis.  
There was something he wanted to say, hesitantly opening his mouth only to close it again without a word, a troubled expression on his face.  
“It okay Vivi, things just got a bit heated, nothing serious. Right, Lewis?”  
She turned to the ghost, who kept avoiding her eyes. There was some redness around his black eyes and dark spots on his suit, she noticed.  
She sighed and sat down, her back against the wall.  
“I guess this can’t wait any longer”, she told them, gesturing them to sit down as well, “We got to talk.”  
Arthur and Lewis exchanged glances and eventually settled down next to her.  
“So, start from the beginning”, she said.  
Pointing at Lewis, she asked, “Who are you? And what is your relationship with us?”

She went straight to the point, taking Lewis by surprise. After the shock though, He had to smile. Right, that was Vivi as he knew her.  
“It’s… quite a long story”, he told her, “and I recently realized that there’s **many** things I misunderstood, causing me to almost… kill my best friend.” He lowered his eyes as he said it. He took a deep breath.  
He began with who he was; His name, his adoptive family, the peppers, and how he got to them. Then, he told her about how he had become their friend and eventually ended up dating her, their time doing investigations together… Arthur interrupted here and there, adding things he’d had missed.  
Somewhere in the middle, Arthur started grinning.  
“Remember that time a customer at the Paradiso was talking dirty behind Vivi back-”  
Lewis became flustered, “Dude, no, sTOP!”, he tried preventing Arthur from finishing. But to no avail; Arthur kept going, a diabolic grin on his face.  
“- so you literally just lifted him with one arm and took him out like a bag of trash?”  
“Arthur, stop it...”, Lewis begged, his face red in embarrassment, but he couldn’t help but smile. Being together with them, chatting and joking around like this after all this this time, it felt _so good_ . It had been hard to learn Vivi didn’t have any memories of him. She seemed to slowly regain them now, but there was still a long way to go…  
They carried on like this - it was several years worth of information after all - for some time. But suddenly, the smiles on Arthur and Lewis faces vanished.  
“What’s wrong, guys?”, Vivi asked, worried why they didn’t go on.  
Lewis glanced towards Arthur, who was clearly uncomfortable, unconsciously reaching for his missing arm. He didn’t know what to say either. Mystery whimpered, guilt and regret showing on his face.

“I think I should continue from here on”, he said quietly. The others looked at him in surprise.  
“That night was where Arthur lost his arm, you, Vivi, your memory and… Lewis his life”, he explained in a serious voice, “I’m… truly ashamed at my inability to save you, Lewis.” His ears dropped in shame and he averted his eyes. He had obviously taken the events in that cave to heart.

“Several lesser ghosts dwelled in that cave; Usually, my mere presence keeps beings like this at bay, but there was a shocking amount living in that place.  
“While they were certainly spirits of the dead, I doubt they even had any sense of self in that state, unlike you, Lewis. Those ghosts were closer to mindless spirits, only looking for a body to possess as they lacked one of their own. And they found a fitting vessel… in Arthur.”

The others’ eyes widened in surprise, but they stayed silent and waited for him to go on.

“After we split up, they entered his arm and used it to push Lewis to his death. As weak as they were, I didn’t notice it until… it was too late.” He stopped against, his short tail nervously twitching, “I… kind of panicked after this. Thinking about how to prevent you from getting completely taken over, Arthur, without using too much of my powers, the only thing I could think of in that moment was - A hasty and foolish idea, I realized afterwards -… biting off your possessed arm.”

Arthur softly squealed, turning his left side away from the whimpering dog. This made Mystery even more downcast, earning Arthur a glare from Vivi. He bit his lip, bringing himself to calm down.  
“Look… What’s done is done, Mystery. Nobody can take the very best action every single time. I’m still here, thanks to you… And you’re still our friend.”  
They all went silent for a moment, unsure what to say.

Then, out of nowhere, Vivi burst out laughing. The others, startled, asked why she was laughing in a moment like this.

“It’s just… Oh man.” Again, she was interrupted by a violent laughing fit. She wiped away a tear, still shaking.  
“You’re one to talk, Arthur. Who was the one speedballing their pain meds and three energy drinks and then didn’t sleep for a week?”  
Lewis, both lying on the floor laughing and worried about his friend, shouted, “You did **what** ?! Arthur, why?”  
“No need to go mom mode, guys…”, Arthur nervously laughed.  
Mystery snorted, having forgotten his dejection from before, “It’s not really “mom mode” if you start seeing distortions in the fabric of time and space and try to use it for time travel.”  
“Again, fair, but… “, he couldn’t finish as he himself started giggling.

Some time later, Lance found them outside, leaning against each other. All that chatting and laughing had tired them out, making them fall asleep soon after.  
“Why do I even have those beds ready for you when you kids are not using them…”, he shook his head as he wrapped them with the biggest, warmest blanket he had, an almost ancient family heirloom full of patches and quickly made repairs, careful not to disturb them. He softly patted each of them. He took Arthur’s robotic arm, taking it with him as he went inside to let them catch some well-deserved z’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been months but... I'm not sure when I'll update it, but I will, promise! (it could be weeks, months... who knows)


End file.
